This Commerce Life

With the Canada–U.S. trade war pushing brands to rethink where their product goes, Mexico has quietly become one of the biggest openings in Canadian CPG. Former Bed Bath & Beyond Mexico CEO Steve Sotto joins Phil and Kenny to break down how Canadian brands actually get in — and where most of them get stuck.Fresh off touring Mexico City retail together in June, the crew digs into the channel Canadians keep overlooking: thriving department stores like Liverpool and El Palacio de Hierro, in a market where Canada's own department stores (The Bay, Sears, Eatons) have all but vanished. If you've got a premium product and you're only thinking Walmart and Chedraui, you're missing a huge slice of Mexican consumerism.Then it gets practical. Steve walks through the two halves of exporting — the commercial side (getting on shelf) and the logistics side (getting into the country legally) — and why the second one is where brands blow it. Cofepris registration, NOM numbers, product classification, custom brokers, bonded warehouses: miss a step and your shipment sits at port racking up penalties, no matter how perfect your labels are.The throughline: Mexico is a sign-off market, not a complaints-based one like Canada. Someone authorized has to clear your product before it moves. Get the process right and, as Steve puts it, whatever's hot in Canada tends to be hot in Mexico within three months.Find Steve and his logistics group at www.prelex.mx. Exploring an export move? Reach Phil and Kenny at [email protected] this episode:Why Mexico's department stores (Liverpool, El Palacio de Hierro) are the channel Canadian brands keep missingCommercial vs. logistics: why landing product in-country is the easy partCofepris, NOM numbers, and the classification wall that strands shipments at portWhy Mexico requires a sign-off, and Canada only reacts to complaintsReading the Mexican consumer — and the trade-war window that's open right now

Kids won't drink water — but they'll chase the bright, fun stuff. Laura Chiodola built Electric Kids to hijack that impulse for good.After 20 years building Tealish, Laura saw the same problem every parent knows: sports drinks and TikTok-hyped brands own the kids' beverage space, while the "healthy" options are either boring water or clinical rehydration products. Electric Kids is her answer — a clean-label kids' electrolyte stick pack with coconut water powder as the first ingredient, natural colour from spirulina and beetroot, and a salt level formulated for kids' bodies, not adults'.In this episode, Laura, Phil, and Kenny get into why packaging that appeals to kids (not moms) is the real unlock, how a product can be a "vehicle" to get more water into a kid's day, and why the brand that wins a loyal audience in one category doesn't automatically win the next one. It's a sharp look at category creation, clean-label positioning, and building for both the buyer (parents) and the user (kids) at once.Find Electric Kids at getelectrik.com and on shelf at Healthy Planet. Find Laura here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-chodola-6324bb16/

Retail veteran Peter Chapman has spent 20 years teaching brands what buyers actually want to hear — and it's rarely another pitch about how great your product is. After 19 years at Loblaw running fresh merchandising across Atlantic Canada, Peter went out on his own in 2008 to help suppliers build real relationships with retailers. On this episode he sits down with Phil and Kenny to unpack what separates the brands that get on shelf from the ones that get shown the door. The conversation digs into why "walking the store" is a non-negotiable part of the job, how store staff are the industry's most underused source of intel, and why understanding a retailer's economics beats fighting them. Peter also shares why frozen and refrigerated have quietly become the categories to watch, and how a wave of Canadian-first sentiment is reshaping what brands should be leading with — at home and in export markets. Find Peter at SKUfood.com, where he's published a weekly industry newsletter for 347 straight Fridays, and connect with him on LinkedIn. In this episode: From a 1983 grocery job to 19 years at Loblaw to going solo in 2008 Why buyers want a plan, not a "look what I've got" pitch Walking the whole store (not your own set) to find where you really fit Store staff and cashiers as underrated sources of real-world sales insight The shift toward frozen, refrigerated, and Canadian-made products

Elbows up — but make it strategic. Phil and Kenny break down what the latest US tariff escalation actually means for Canadian food, beverage, and CPG brands. This one's raw and unscripted. The guys air out the frustration, then get clinical: how founders should be stress-testing their US ambitions, why "buy Canadian" is more than a slogan right now, and how to hunt for opportunity instead of just moaning about the mess. They dig into the case for looking beyond the border — Mexico, Europe, Asia, and the I-5 corridor as its own set of regional markets — and why parking your US plan doesn't mean blowing it up. Plus a rundown of the food & beverage associations and buy-local programs across BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada that brands can tap for peanuts. If you're a Canadian brand, tell the world you're Canadian — people are asking, and not just here at home. In this episode: Why the guys are angry — and why they're choosing to move past it "Buy Canadian" when you can, and being real about when you can't Rethinking the US: sizing, packaging, COGS, and market viability Looking past the border — Mexico, Europe, Asia, and regional plays The provincial food & bev associations and buy-local programs worth joining This Commerce Life is Canada's longest-running commerce podcast, hosted by Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci.

Meet Colin Christensen, the entrepreneur who turned "mushrooms and chocolate" into a fast-growing Canadian functional food brand — and made it taste like chocolate, not sand. MyCAO (a mashup of mycelia + cacao) started almost by accident. Hired as CEO of a psilocybin company waiting on regulation, Colin needed a revenue stream and stumbled into the functional mushroom space. A conversation with a high-end Edmonton chocolatier flipped his original "Canadian MUD/WTR" idea on its head — and four months later, MyCAO was making revenue. In this episode, Colin walks Phil and Kenny through the real formulation challenge behind the brand: getting a full, effective gram of a single mushroom species into every button without the gritty, sandy texture that plagues most mushroom products. The team leaned on renowned herbalist Robert Rogers, sourced full-spectrum mushrooms from a GMP-grade Canadian grower, and paired everything with Valrhona dark chocolate. The result is a functional dose you'd actually want to eat. It's a sharp look at building a differentiated CPG brand in a crowded wellness category — where dose, quality, and format are the whole game. Find Colin Christensen (CEO) on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinchristensen/ MyCAO: https://mycao.ca/

Getting on a show floor was never the hard part — being ready to do business once you're there is. In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with Aaron Skelton, President & CEO of the Canadian Health Food Association, to unpack how the CHFA show is evolving from an exposure play into a readiness engine for Canada's next wave of natural, health, and CPG brands. Aaron walks through Greenhouse — CHFA's new curated program that gives emerging brands seed and scale stages, a dedicated show-floor section, and a retailer breakfast that puts founders in front of buyers before the doors open. It's built around a simple truth Phil and Kenny hear constantly from brokers and distributors: "Are they ready?" That one question decides everything. The conversation gets into why brands should sometimes say no to a listing, how 1,000 doors can sink a company that isn't prepared for the cost of growth, the financial-literacy gap founders don't see coming, and why the merchandising space on the floor is a free education most brands walk right past. Plus a look at red-tape reduction for the natural health sector and what it really means on the ground. If you're building a food, beverage, or CPG brand in Canada — or you're a buyer hunting for the next thing before everyone else finds it — this one's for you. In this episode: Why "exposure" isn't enough anymore — the shift to retail readiness Inside Greenhouse: seed vs. scale stages and the curated show floor The one question every broker and distributor asks: "Are they ready?" When saying no to a listing is the smartest move The real cost of growth — and why 1,500% growth was the biggest challenge Using the Hive merchandising space to learn what buyers actually see Connect with Aaron Skelton and the team at CHFA and see what's coming on the show floor this September. Find Aaron here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronskelton/ Make sure you register for CHFA Now: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto/  

The real scoop on getting into distribution — straight from the person who reviews the applications. Amanda Coish of Purity Life breaks down what actually earns a "yes." We've had the big-picture conversation about distribution before. This time we wanted the unfiltered version, so we sat down with Amanda Coish, who leads brand selection and onboarding at Purity Life — one of Canada's major natural-channel distributors. She reviews hundreds of brands a year while managing a portfolio of 400-plus, and she tells us exactly what separates the brands that get picked up from the ones that never hear back. If you're a founder eyeing distribution, this is the conversation to listen to twice. Amanda walks through the review process, the compliance and readiness gaps that get an application quietly declined, why "I'll do Instagram and Facebook" isn't the promotional support retailers are asking for, and the realistic timeline from application to product actually shipping out of the warehouse. Phil and Kenny pull on their buyer and CPG experience to translate what she's really signalling — including the two-word tells that make a buyer think "no." It's a candid look at the mechanics of Canadian retail: finite warehouse space, the fight for shelf, hip-pocket deals, brokers, national vs. regional compliance, and why that first year of a partnership demands real work from the brand, not autopilot. Want the big-picture view first? Catch our earlier conversation with Matthew from Purity Life: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1JHvuuWIQNhnMPqRTm1o7b?si=0d057c5cc302413c In this episode: How Purity reviews new brands — and the first things they check The readiness and compliance gaps that get you a quiet "no" Why promotional support (not social media spend) is what retailers want The real application-to-launch timeline and why it takes months What a healthy distributor relationship looks like after you're in A big thank you to CHFA for sponsoring the podcast. If you're a brand thinking about the natural channel, this is where you need to be — learn more and register: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto/

Kristyn Carriere went from running taste panels at Cadbury and formulating for Godiva to founding her own Canadian chocolate brand. This is what happens when a real food scientist decides to build a CPG company. On this episode, Kristyn Carriere of Seven Summit Snacks joins Phil and Kenny to talk about turning deep R&D experience into a grab-and-go energy chocolate — and why a big-company background changes how you launch. We get into the science of chocolate (conching, flavour optimization, why the same bar tastes different in five countries), the consumer-led product development that got the recipe right in three tries instead of hundreds, and the packaging and branding choices that help the bar stand out in two of the most saturated aisles in the store. Kristyn also shares the deeply personal story that gave the brand its name and brought her back home to Canada. There's a real lesson in here for founders: making something in your kitchen is one thing — knowing the industry, the iterations, and the science behind market fit is what actually moves a brand forward. Find Seven Summit Snacks at https://sevensummitssnacks.com/, on Amazon, and in retailers like Running Room, MEC, and Community Natural Foods. In this episode: From Disney on Ice to food science to global chocolate R&D Inside Cadbury and Godiva: how big chocolate really formulates The origin of Seven Summit Snacks and the story behind the name Consumer-led development: nailing the recipe in three tries Building for two customer types — online buyers vs. in-store shoppers Winning the aisle with packaging, iconography, and clean ingredients A big thank you to CHFA for sponsoring This Commerce Life. CHFA is the voice of Canada's natural health and organic products industry, and their trade shows are where the best emerging brands and buyers connect. Heading to Toronto? Sign up for CHFA East and be part of it: https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto 🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. Learn more at https://sevensummitssnacks.com/

Katie Young moved to Whitehorse, Yukon in 2007 for the adventure — dog sledding, mountains, and a winter practicum — and ended up building one of the North's most beloved CPG brands.  In this episode, she sits down with Phil Chang and Kenny Vannucci to tell the full story of Klondike Kettle Corn: from taking over a popcorn kettle at the local farmers market, to testing packaging at Christmas markets, to landing on shelves and now pushing for national distribution.   It's a candid, funny, and genuinely useful conversation about what it actually takes to scale a food brand from one of the hardest logistics environments in Canada — where you can't grow the corn, shipping air isn't cheap, and there's exactly one Save-On-Foods and one Superstore in town. In this episode: Growing a business and a family "up alongside each other" at the Whitehorse farmers market Why the Yukon is both the challenge AND the secret advantage (single-store markets, fierce local pride, built-in test population) The move from farmers market to retail: learning wholesale vs. retail pricing on the spot The Venture Park Accelerator, the Sobeys Local conversation, and "get into my competitor first, then come back" Landing TJX and going coast-to-coast fast — and why a Kamloops co-packer made it possible Filming Dragon's Den, the hometown watch party, and the e-commerce boost that followed The reality of the national grind: brokers, funding, and trusting-but-verifying your numbers Whether you're a founder in a remote market, a CPG operator, or just love a great Canadian entrepreneur story, this one delivers. Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring this episode. Make sure you're signed up for CHFA East! https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto 🎧 This Commerce Life — Canada's longest-running commerce podcast. #KlondikeKettleCorn #DragonsDen #CanadianCPG #Yukon #Popcorn #FoodAndBeverage #RetailStrategy #Entrepreneurship #ThisCommerceLife #CPGBrand

When Shaw's Ice Cream announced it was closing its doors in 2001, three sisters — Christine, Kelly, and Kim — made a decision most people would call reckless: they dropped out of university and bought the shuttered 1950s manufacturing plant. Their logic? "We know retail. How hard can manufacturing be?" Twenty-five years later, Shaw's is a Southwestern Ontario institution — and one of the best "green, naive, and figured-it-out" founder stories we've had on the show. In this episode, Phil and Kenny sit down with the sisters behind Shaw's Ice Cream (based in Tillsonburg & St. Thomas, Ontario) to unpack how they rebuilt a brand from nothing, survived on a two-week crash course and a wrench, and grew into a three-part business spanning retail, wholesale, and co-pack/private-label manufacturing for other brands. Whether you're a founder, a CPG operator, or just someone who loves a good Ontario road-trip-and-ice-cream day, this one's a treat. 🍦 check them out here:  https://www.shawsicecream.com/about-us/ Thank you to CHFA for sponsoring this episode. https://www.chfanow.ca/toronto 🎧 This Commerce Life — Canada's longest-running commerce podcast.   #ShawsIceCream #OntarioMade #CanadianCPG #IceCream #FoundersStory #FoodAndBeverage #ThisCommerceLife #Tillsonburg #FamilyBusiness #RetailPodcast